Wireless cellular communication networks are known. In these networks, the area covered is divided into a number of cells. Each cell has associated with it a base transceiver station. The base transceiver stations are arranged to communicate with mobile stations located in the cells associated with the base transceiver stations.
There are a number of different standards which govern the communication between mobile stations and base stations as well as with other network elements. One example of a currently known standard is the GSM standard (Global System for Mobile Communications). At the present time, work is being carried out on the so called third generation standard. One example of these third generation standards is the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Standard. In general, the third generation standards use code division multiple access in the radio interface between mobile stations and base transceiver stations.
Currently, it is proposed in at least some third generation standards to use the internet protocol IP in the radio access network (RAN).
Currently, the access charge for a certain type of access is the same regardless of the location of the user equipment. Thus, if the user is in an area covered by a particular network operator, the cost to the user will be same throughout the network. This has generally been the case in that the base stations are generally owned by the operator and the subscriber will have a contract with the network operator which is based on fixed charges. The current system thus does not allow the provision of access nodes, such as base transceiver stations, by third parties. Accordingly, the issue of charging is not even addressed where the access node is provided by a third party. Furthermore, the current standards do not provide much flexibility in the charging of a user in dependence of location of the user and local loading conditions.